Location: http://davidfindlay.org/weblog

10 miles on the bike on the trail today. Could have done more but had to be back for Mary going out. The bike held up well, so it survived its neglect over the winter.

Joined the Y at Harrison Hills on Monday night. Couldn’t find my googles, so I farted around on the elliptical and nautilus equipment on Tuesday. Swam 36-40 lengths (~1/2 a mile) on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.

I finished it! The longest I had run in training was 10 miles so I wasn’t sure how I’d do this morning. But it went pretty well. My left calf went tight as a drum at the 1 mile mark and stayed that way for the rest of the race, but the rest of me felt ok.

From my swanky new Ironman watch my mile times were:

8:16, 8:55, 8:41, 8:32, 8:21, 8:37, 8:41, 8:39, 8:29, 8:34, 8:22, 8:35, 8:38, 34s for that final .1.

Official time 1:52:04.5 (8:33 pace).
I would have been ok with just finishing without having to walk any of it. I did that. I was also aiming for a sub 2-hour time, so I was very happy with 1:52:04!

Did it in 48:34 (7:50 pace). I was shooting for under 50 minutes so I was pleased.

Runner’s World has a great program where you can donate your old shoes. Extract from http://runnersworld.com/shoedonation:

Are your old running shoes taking up too much space in your closet? Then pack them up and send them to Runner’s World. We’ll make sure wearable shoes are donated to One World Running, where runners in the U.S. and abroad will wear them. We’ll also send shoes way beyond use to Nike’s Reuse-A-Shoe program, where shoes are recycled and turned into material that is used to build tracks and other athletic fields and equipment.

Mail shoes to:

Runner’s World
Shoe Donation Program
135 North 6th Street
Emmaus, PA 18098

that eight miles is the longest I’ve ever run!

So, a little trepidatious after last week’s 7 mile struggle, I set off this Sunday to do 8 miles. And it went really well. I think I might have taken it a little slower, so that probably helped. I felt very encouraged, and at the end I felt as if I could have gone on for another mile or two even. So maybe there’s hope of me completing this half-marathon after all.

I’m still training for that half-marathon that’s rapidly approaching – October 1st just isn’t that far away anymore. So today I did a 7 miler on the trail; 4 miles up to Monroe, 3 back and then I half-walked, half-jogged the last mile back to Laneville.

But when I got to Monroe I stopped running at the 4-mile post. I walked the length of the parking lot, turned and walked back to the 4-mile post again, which would be less than a minute. When I hit the 4-mile post I started running again and stayed running until I got my 7 miles in.

So, tell me, does that still count as a 7 miler? Or is it just a 4 miler closely followed by a 3 miler?

I hope the 8 miler next week goes more easily. I’m not feeling too confident that I can do the full 13.109735 miles right now.

Just wanted to mention how impressed I am with Burley. We bought a Burley D-Lite trailer from Gatto’s in Tarentum and are very happy with it. However the Cannondale H400 I’m borrowing from my father-in-law has a seat stay that doesn’t go directly to the rear axle, and so the trailer ends up being too close to the rear tire. I called Burley and in one ring got a real live person! I explained my problem and she forwarded my call to a support person. Again, one ring and a real live person. He understood my issue immediately and suggested I get their alternate hitch, which replaces the quick-release mechanism of the rear wheel. Wow, 2 real people in a row, and an answer to my question in under 5 minutes.
I knew Burley was based in Eugene, Oregon and made their products here in the US – that’s one of the reasons we chose them. But I see from reading on their website, that they are an “employee-owned design cooperative”. It’s nice that there are still small customer- and product-focused companies left in these dark times of the evil blue box store (which I studiously avoid at all times).

I wish them well.